There are many systems for marking products, which are aimed at clear identification of products at all times and thus at discouraging an eventual thief, since a marked product cannot be sold easily. The success of such identification systems, however, depends on the fact, how easily the applied identification elements can be removed or modified.
For instance, each produced automobile bears a unique code, the so-called VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), which enables to identify the origin of a vehicle. However, presentation of the VIN code on a production label of a car is only a little obstacle for a thief, because there exist many possible ways how to modify the VIN code on a production label.
As a result, an Australian company, the Datadot Technology Limited, use so-called data dots—polyester platelets in the shape of little discs having cca 1 mm in diameter and being cca 0.1 mm thick, which bear an identification code burned on by laser. As for cars, this code can be the same as the abovementioned VIN code, consisting of 17 characters.
These platelets are to be mixed with a special adhesive material, which, upon hardening, is transparent and fluoresces under ultraviolet light. The mixture of the adhesive and the platelets can be applied on selected parts of a car by means of e.g. a spray gun, so the marking of the individual parts of the car does not last long. The adhesive is resistant to high or low temperatures and commonly accessible chemicals. The code presented on the platelets can be read by means of a simple and cheap microscope. A great amount of identification platelets (cca 5000 identification platelets applied during tests) are applied on various parts of one car, so an eventual thief will not be able to remove all of them.
A device for applying such identification platelets has been known from e.g. Australian patent AU 2001100633, or U.S. Pat. No. 715,864, or European patent application EP 1216758.
From British patent GB 2346583 a microdot for identification of products is known. The microdot comprises 14 lines of an alphanumeric code and 16 lines of a code, which is a mirrored image of the abovementioned alphanumeric code. This solution enables to read the code from both sides of the microdot.
The purpose of the invention is to design such identification platelets/dots that cannot be copied easily, and, at the same time, to suggest the production of such identification platelets/dots, which would enable to create a hologram on the smallest possible platelet.